     [dir-tree local-prefix]
     (if-let [meta-file (some #(when (basename-is? % "_meta.json") %) dir-tree)]
         [ (remove #(basename-is? % "_meta.json") dir-tree)
-          (slurp (str local-prefix (meta-file :full-name))) ]
+          (slurp (str local-prefix (append-slash ((first dir-tree) :full-name)) (meta-file :full-name))) ]
         [ dir-tree "{}" ]))
 
-(def test-tree
+(defn distribute-meta
+    "A function to be passed into tree map which will find (and remove) all _meta.json files from the
+    map, read them in, and apply the meta object inside of them to the appropriate file-structs"
+    [dir-tree _ local-prefix]
+    (let [ pull-meta-ret (pull-meta-file dir-tree local-prefix)
+           new-dir-tree  (first  pull-meta-ret)
+           meta-string   (second pull-meta-ret) ]
+        (if-let [ meta-struct (dmeta/parse-meta-string meta-string) ]
+            (reduce #(assoc-meta %1 (key %2) (val %2)) new-dir-tree meta-struct)
+            (throw (Exception. (str "Could not parse _meta.json file in " 
+                                    local-prefix ((first dir-tree) :full-name)
+                                    ", it might not be valid json"))))))
+
+(defn test-tree []
     (->> (specify-tree "my-duffel")
-         (chroot-tree "/tmp")))
+         (chroot-tree "/tmp")
+         (tree-map distribute-meta)
+         ))

    returns a list where first item is the base filename and the
    second is the extension to apply"
    (if-let [re-res (re-find dot-underscore-split file-name)]
        (if (ext/is-extension (last re-res))
            (rest re-res)
            (list file-name "put"))
        (list file-name "put")))

(defn index-of-specified-entry [host-seq]
    "Given a list of host specifiers, returns index of most specific one, or nil
    if none match"
    (dutil/thread-until host-seq
        (partial dutil/index-when fdqn-matches)
        (partial dutil/index-when hostname-matches)
        (partial dutil/index-when #(= "_default" %))))

(defmulti explode-file seq?)
(defmethod explode-file false [file-name]
